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A Better Sister	By : Flagg1991 Category: +G through L > The Loud House Views: 8387 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House, it belongs to Nickelodeon. This was written for fun and not profit.

Chapter List
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They met at Pauly’s Pizza on Pine Street, a tiny hole-in-the-wall eatery with sticky floors, no air conditioning, and bright booths with red vinyl seats that looked, to a one, as though Freddy Kruger got bored while waiting for his pie and played a sloppy game of tic-tac-toe on them. There was an ancient Ms. Pac-Man game canbiet in a little alcove by the front door, and when Lori entered, a boy in a baggy green shirt was furiously operating the joystick, slamming it from side to side as he navigated Ms. Pac-Man through a blinking blue maze. Lori looked around and spotted Bobby at a booth near the bathroom, bent over his phone. She smiled and walked over. “Hey, babe.”

He looked up and grinned. “I was just texting you.” He slid out of the booth and they kissed. She had been with Bobby going on eight months now, and every time he kissed her was like the first time, electricity dancing between their lips. She had kissed other boys in the past, but none of them ever made her knees buckle and her stomach twist the way Bobby did, and that was without tongue.

They sat across from each other. “I know I’m late,” Lori said, “I’m sorry.”

Before leaving the house (she was literally at the front door) she decided she needed a shower. She had one the night before, but for some reason she didn’t feel clean.

“That’s okay,” Bobby said, leaning back. “I already ordered. Hope that’s okay.”

“Pepperoni?”

“What else?” he asked, smiling. “Anchovies?”

Lori crinkled her nose. “Yuck.”

Bobby grinned mischievously, a twinkle coming into his eyes. “Okay, maybe I did order anchovies on it.”

“You better not have,” Lori laughed. “I will literally kill you.”

“Hope you’re ready for the next 25 to life.”

His phone buzzed. He picked it up, looked at it, and typed. “Ronnie Anne,” he said without looking up. “She says she isn’t feeling good.”

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

“Headache,” Bobby said.

Ronnie Anne got frequent headaches. They started when she was six and came at least three times a week. Her mother had taken her to a dozen doctors over the years, but none had found anything wrong with her. Stress, they said, tension, which made sense; they started around the time her father started losing himself to the bottle and taking out his own self-loathing on his family. Why they persisted was a mystery.

A man in a dark blue shirt and a red apron came over. “Can I get you something to drink, miss?”

“Coke, please.”

The man nodded and rushed away.

“So, how’s your day going?” Bobby asked, setting aside his phone.

She shrugged. “Alright. I really haven’t had a day yet. It’s only like, what, 9?” She thought back to the revelation she had in the van, and her chest tightened. A frown must have crossed her face, because Bobby’s brow furrowed.

“You alright?”

“Yeah,” Lori said, nodding, “it’s nothing. I just...” she trailed off. She just what? Had some kind of existential crisis? Realized that she was rushing headlong into the void and she hadn’t had a chance to say her goodbyes?

“What?” he asked, leaning forward, concern in his eyes. He took her hands across the table, and she could have melted. He was so sweet and caring.

Sighing, she said, “I just realized...in a couple months, I’m going to college, and...I don’t know, I just feel like I haven’t been a good sister and taking that step seals it, you know?”

“Aw, babe,” he said, “don’t feel like that. You’re a great sister.”

“Not really,” she muttered. “I feel like I should have been more involved. In ways, my siblings are like strangers, and that’s my fault because I was so caught up in myself that I didn’t realize it would be over so soon.”

“You and your family are so close, though. I mean, you had your ups and downs, but who doesn’t?”

“I know, I just don’t feel like I did enough, like I wasn’t there like I should have been.”

“Well, you’re not Supergirl. You can’t do everything. I mean, when they needed you, you were there, right?”

“Yeah, but...I don’t know.”

He squeezed her hands and looked into her eyes. “It’s scary, I know. Couple months from now, and we’re adults, you know? Out in the real world. I think you’re looking back so you don’t have to look forward.”

“Don’t you feel like...soon you’re going to be out of Ronnie Anne’s life, for the most part...don’t you feel like there’s so much you haven’t said or done?”

“No,” he said, “because I don’t look back and I don’t look ahead. I look at the here and now. I mean, looking left or right is how you miss what’s in front of you.”

Lori let his words sink in. She turned them over and over in her mind the way one might examine an intricate piece of pottery. He was right, she realized. If you didn’t live in the here and now, you missed the here and now. If you lived in the past, you don’t realize what you had until five or ten years down the road. When you live in the future, you rush past what you do have.

The waiter came back with her Coke, and she disentangled her hands from Bobby’s to take a sip. “I guess I’m weird,” she said.

“No, you’re not weird. Like I said, you guys are really close, so you’re bound to feel messed up when you realize you’re so close to leaving home. I mean, I’m messed up too. I don’t think anyone’s ever left home totally and one hundred percent anxiety free, you know?”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

Their pizza came. There were no anchovies.

“You got any plans for the day?” Bobby asked, slapping a slice onto one of the plates the waiter left.

Lori started to say no, but she realized that she did. She had something she had to do, something to make up for. “Yeah, errands.”

Bobby nodded, taking a bite of his own slice. “My shift starts in a couple hours. I was kind of hoping we could take a walk in the park or something.”

“I’m sorry,” Lori said. Jeez, why couldn’t she stop letting everyone down?

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “This is good enough.” He smiled, and Lori smiled too. She loved that Bobby could always cheer her up when she was down. It was a like a superpower or something.

When they were done, there was almost half a pizza left. Bobby boxed it up and handed it to her.

“I don’t want it,” she said, “I’m literally about to burst.”

“Give it to your siblings then.”

Now that was something a thoughtful sister would do. Her? Nope.

Okay, so Bobby could make her feel like shit too, but at least he was cute.

“Alright,” she said, taking the box. They walked outside into the warm sunshine and kissed.

“I’ll see you later?”

“Of course you will,” Lori said, smiling, and kissed him again.

They parted, and Lori was on her way to being a better sister.

When the final bell rang at 2:30, Lincoln Loud gathered his things and went out into the hall, searching the crowd for a familiar face. He saw kids he knew, kids he knew of, but no one that he wanted to see. Outside, in the warm air, he pulled himself out traffic and leaned against the concrete stairs, his books hugged protectively to his chest. After finishing his lunch, he spent some time alone in the bathroom, and the constant, pressing need was dulled. The feeling that he was the perpetual outsider in his own family was not. Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, he watched as kids of every size, shape, and color streamed by, some to the buses idling at the curb, others spreading out into Royal Woods on foot. When he saw his sister Lynn, he nearly sighed with relief.

“Hey!”

She turned, and grinned when she saw who it was. “Hey, Linc!”

“Hey,” he said again, “going home?”

“Yup,” she said.

“Can I walk with you?”

Her brows knitted together ever so slightly. “Sure, why not?”

“Thanks,” he said.

Lynn’s step was quick and long. He had to powerwalk to keep up with her. Was she doing it on purpose because she really didn’t want to walk with him?

Of course not. Shut up.

“You hear about the fight?” Lynn asked, throwing a glance back at him.

“No,” he said.

“Yeah, these two guys beat the shit out of each other.” She laughed. “It was some real MMA stuff.”

“Was it bad?”

Lynn shrugged. “I didn’t see any ambulances, so it couldn’t have been that bad.”

They were crossing the street now with a flood of other kids.

“It’s such a nice day,” Lynn commented. “Perfect for tossing the old pigskin.”

Lincoln perked up. “You want to? When we get home?”

Lincoln did not particularly like football, but he wanted to spend time with her, wanted to be close to her, wanted to belong.

“Yeah,” she said, brightening. “You feeling okay?”

“Sure. Why?”

“Because you never volunteer to play sports with me. I have to twist your arm.”

Lincoln shrugged. “Like you said, it’s a nice day for football.”

She stopped and pressed her hand to his forehead. It was cool and dry. “No fever.”

“Stop,” he said, laughing. “I just want to...you know...toss the old pigskin around. Maybe get tackled into a quivering pulp.”

“Well, we can arrange that if you want,” Lynn said, and nudged him in the ribs.

Fifteen minutes later, they walked through the front door, and jumped when Lori appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Hi, guys!” she chuirrped. “How was your day?”

“Good,” Lynn drew, her head cocked back.

Lori looked at Lincoln. “Yours, baby brother?”

“Uh, it was...alright.” Lori’s face was so close to his that he would be able to smell her breath if he sniffed the air. He did not...nor did he want to.

“Great! I got you guys something!”

She whipped out a basketball and shoved it into Lynn’s arms. “I noticed your old one was getting, like, bald or something.” She brought out a book and handed it to Lincoln. “I saw this at the comic store and thought you’d like it.”

Lincoln looked at the cover. It was the Ace Savvy Compendium Volume 1. His eyes widened. “Wow! This thing costs, like, fifty dollars!”

“49.48,” Lori corrected. “But it’s worth it to see my favorite brother happy.” She planted a kiss on his forehead, and he couldn’t help but look at her strangely.

“Thanks,” Lynn said, then looked at Lincoln. “Go put your book away and we’ll play.”

“What’cha playing?” Lori asked.

“Football,” Lynn said.

“You guys want a snack first? I think we have Bagel Bites and maybe Hot Pockets.”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

“No thank you,” Lincoln said, starting up the stairs, holding his new prized possession in his hands and looking at it with lustful eyes. In his room, he laid it on his bed, setting it down the way a man would set down a Faberge egg, being careful not to bend any of the corners. A sudden and genuine smile crossed his face. That was nice of her. And unexpected. Lori wasn’t a huge gift giver. No one really was in the Loud house, since money wasn’t the easiest thing to come by. 49.48? That was a lot of money. And Lynn’s basketball was easily another twenty. Did someone die and leave her a fortune?

Outside, he found Lynn drinking a Gatorade. When he walked up, she turned, the bottle lifted to her lips, and nodded. She brought the bottle down, sighed, and screwed the cap back on. “You ready?”

“I am.”

“Alright.” She picked up the ball and handed it to him. She backed up about fifty feet and held her hands up. “I’m open!”

He snapped the ball back and threw it: It spun through the air like a bullet. Lynn jumped up and snatched it. “Nice throw!” she said.

“Thanks!”

She threw the ball at him, and he ran backwards, catching it. He threw it back, and Lynn grabbed it. She glanced at the house, and Lincoln followed her gaze. Lori was standing by the back door, filming them with her cellphone. “No, don’t mind me, play.”

Lincoln and Lynn looked at each other.

Luan appeared behind Lori. “What’cha doing?”

“Taking a video,” Lori said. She exited out of her camera and turned to her sister. “I got you something at the store today...”

They disappeared inside, and Lynn came over. “She’s acting weird.”

“Err...kind of,” Lincoln said.

“She blew, like, eighty bucks on us, and it sounds like she got Luan something too. And when’s the last time she took a video of us playing – or doing anything? What’s she even going to do with it?”

Lincoln shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said.

“You think she’s trying to butter us up for something?”

Lincoln opened his mouth, but closed it again. Actually, yeah, that made sense.

“Maybe,” he said, feeling disappointed.
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A Better Sister